Drywall, also known as plasterboard, wallboard, or gypsum board, is a type of paneling that is commonly used to construct the interior walls and ceilings of houses, offices and other buildings. Drywall is typically made up of an inner core of gypsum plaster pressed between two thick sheets of paper and can be manufactured in various lengths and thicknesses for use in many different applications. A standard drywall sheet is commonly four (4) feet wide and eight (8) feet long and one-half (½) inch thick, but can also be up to twelve (12) feet long, and three-eighths (⅜ths) to five-eighths (⅝ths) inches thick. To install drywall panels, each panel is cut into desired shapes and sizes and then secured to wall or ceiling structures with nails, glue, screws or other suitable fasteners. Cutouts in each drywall panel can be made for wall features such as windows, doors, plumbing, electrical outlets and light switches. After the panels have been secured to the wall or ceiling structure, the seams between the drywall panels are concealed and the outer surface of the panels can be finished with a plaster coating and painted or covered with wallpaper or other coverings.
Multiple panels or sheets of drywall are commonly required to completely cover a single wall or ceiling. Such installations typically require more than one worker to complete, as it is often necessary for one worker to hold a drywall panel in place while a second worker secures the panel to the underlying wall studs or ceiling joists. Requiring more than one worker to install each drywall panel prolongs the time it takes to complete the construction job as other work must be put on hold so that at least two workers can assist each other with the drywall installation. This reduces efficiency which inevitably leads to higher construction costs.
One solution intended to alleviate the burden of installing multiple panels of drywall has been to use a panel hoist tool (See U.S. Pat. No. 5,700,123 by Rokosh et al. for example.) that can lift each drywall panel to the proper placement position for installation. The panel hoist can allow one person to handle and install drywall panels to either walls or ceilings, avoiding the need for assistance from a second person. However, purchasing or even renting a panel hoist can be expensive and may not be conducive for drywall installation in smaller spaces. Additionally, such panel hoists are typically large and unwieldy pieces of equipment that can be difficult to properly position and move around a worksite. Therefore, any time that is saved by requiring only one person to operate the panel hoist will likely be lost due to the time necessary to move the panel hoist around the construction site and the time required to place it into the positions required to install each sheet of drywall if such positioning is possible at all.
What is needed is a drywall installation tool configured to be used by a single person to install drywall panels onto walls and ceilings. Specifically, this drywall installation tool should allow one person to install a drywall panel without requiring the assistance of another person to either hold the panel in place or secure it to a wall or ceiling once it is in place. Furthermore, this drywall installation tool should be easy to move around a construction site and capable of being quickly moved into any position required to install a particular piece of drywall to a wall or ceiling.